Verde Valley NewsJournalAZ.com - Verde Valley News, Jobs, Classifiedshttp://www.journalaz.com/News/
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:10:57 +0000Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Managementen-gbCattle truck overturns on southbound I-17http://www.journalaz.com/News/cattle-truck-overturns-on-southbound-i-17.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/cattle-truck-overturns-on-southbound-i-17.htmlThe right lane of southbound Interstate 17 south of Sunset Point will be closed most of the day as crews work to clear a cattle truck that crashed around 3:10 a.m. Friday, April 1.

The stretch of I-17 between Sunset Point and Black Canyon City is a steep winding road with many tight curves. The driver reportedly lost control of the truck on one of the curves.

The driver was reportedly uninjured. Approximately 40 head of cattle from Nebraska were aboard the trailer and may have been injured in the rollover.

The Arizona Department of Transportation anticipates at least two 30- to 60-minute closures of the highway during the day.

Drivers traveling from the Verde Valley to Phoenix have the option of two detours:

State Route 260 from Camp Verde to State Route 87, aka the Beeline Highway, to the Phoenix Valley.

State Route 69 from Cordes Junction to Prescott, State Route 89 to Wickenburg, and US 60 to the Phoenix Valley.

ADOT advises drivers to slow down as they approach the crash site and to be alert for equipment and workers.

For more information contact the ADOT Public Information Office at news@azdot.gov or 1.800.949.8057. Visit www.facebook.com/azdot or www.azdot.gov for more information about ADOT.

The New Mexico-born Oliver was one of 29 men who helped the U.S. military create an unbreakable code that confounded the forces of Imperial Japan as World War II raged across the Pacific.

The code was no mystery to Oliver and his fellow Navajo — it was their native language, something the Japanese of the era had no chance at deciphering.

In early 1942, just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America from its complacency, the enemy had proven wildly successful at cracking even the most complex codes the Americans could devise. But military commanders were betting that the Japanese would have no way of cracking one of the most complex languages of the American Southwest, and they were right. It was a tactic that had been used with other Native languages dated back as far as World War I; but perhaps nowhere was it utilized as effectively as in those turbulent and uncertain years of the 1940s.

As children, Oliver and the others lived in an era when Native American children were frequently admonished by white teachers for speaking their native languages. Regardless, Oliver and his fellow Devil Dogs put everything on the line to serve this country.

They didn’t just sit in an office somewhere talking into a microphone. Oliver and his comrades were often in the thick of things.

The took their radios close to the action, nowhere close to real safety. Oliver’s group of Marines found themselves being strafed the first day they landed on Guadalcanal.

While they spoke their native tongue, the Code Talkers didn’t just talk openly. Code words were used and frequently updated and changed. Speaking Navajo alone wasn’t enough to be able to understand what these men were sending over the radio waves.

While they provided a valuable service to the nation, first and foremost, these men were Marines. Oliver happened to be a sniper and a skilled scout.

The skills of the original Navajo Code Talkers set the stage for the military to recruit nearly 400 more Native Americans to fill the important role of protecting American lives with their unbreakable codes.

To Iwo Jima and beyond, the Code Talkers were instrumental in keeping American secrets safe from the Japanese.

By the time the war finally ended in atomic flashes, Oliver and those who had served with him found themselves under another cloak of secrecy.

Despite their help in winning the war, their role wasn’t acknowledged publicly by the government until 1968.

Their actions were further recognized by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 with the declaration of Navajo Code Talkers Day, but it would still be another two decades before Oliver and the few surviving members of his original group of Marines were decorated for their crucial service.

In July of 2001, Oliver and some of his fellow Marines, including those who had died, were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush.

Oliver had help defend his country through speech, but old age slowly took it from him.

He moved to Camp Verde to live with family in recent years, but the words of his fellow Marine John Brown from that 2001 ceremony speak volumes to the experiences of all the Code Talkers.

“We have seen much in our lives. We have experienced war and peace. We know the value of freedom and democracy that this great nation embodies. But our experiences have also shown us how fragile these things can be, and how we must stay ever vigilant to protect them,” Brown said. “As Code Talkers, as Marines, we did our part to protect these values. It is my hope that our young people will carry on this honorable tradition as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers flow.”

In peacetime, Oliver went on to become a jewelry maker specializing in silver.

During dress rehearsal Wednesday, March 23, cast members proved they can act, dance and sing like the pros, but the biggest surprise might be how lines penned more than 70 years ago still get laughs. The music is timeless, by the way.

A Broadway smash in 1934, “Anything Goes” still pops. “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “It’s Delightful,” “You’re the Top,” and the title song, “Anything Goes,” might inspire an audience sing-along when the play opens Friday, April 1. People of a certain age are sure to recognize the repertoire of fun and memorable tunes.

The play follows an eclectic group of ocean liner passengers on their journey from New York to London.

An evangelist nightclub singer, society debutante, English gentleman and wanted gangster are the source of many belly laughs when good men are mistaken for criminals and young lovers surmount nearly every obstacle to be together.

Billy Crocker and Reno Sweeney, played by Dylan Power and Ashley Knister, delight with songs by Cole Porter and tap dancing choreographed by Francine Leroy. Yes, there’s tap dancing — and plenty of it.

Power, the production’s lanky leading man, sings and dances with savoir faire that recalls a young Fred Astaire. Knister, its brassy leading woman, picks up where Ethel Merman left off when the show opened as an antidote to the Great Depression.

Kimberly Clements shines in her acting debut as Hope Harcourt, Crocker’s love interest. She hits all the right notes with a strong, clear voice that charms, especially when singing a romantic duet with her leading man.

Charlie Heath as Moonface Martin and Britney Lawler as Bonnie, Moonface’s moll, raise the bar for comedy, with able support from Zach Romfo, who plays an English twit named Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, Hope’s betrothed.

Lawler masters the comedy and pathos in her performance of “Where Are the Men?” while Romfo, in boxer briefs and a sheer T-shirt, struts with equal measures of confidence and confusion as the dense Englishman trying to decipher the American dialect.

Tall and stately, Jessica Reinhart plays the Harcourt matriarch, Mrs. Wadsworth. She makes the most of stunning period gowns and a mix of detachment and high society bluster Grouch Marx foil Margaret Dumont would applaud.

The cast of 28, crew of 31 and pit orchestra consisting of 14 MUHS students and seven professional musicians turn out an inspired show that is sure to please.

]]>editor@larsonnewspapers.com (Greg Ruland)Cottonwood NewsThu, 31 Mar 2011 19:00:00 +0000District votes to close Tavascihttp://www.journalaz.com/News/district-votes-to-close-tavasci.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/district-votes-to-close-tavasci.htmlTavasci Elementary School will close but Oak Creek School will stay open for the 2011-12 school year after votes by Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District Governing Board on March 22.

The board voted unanimously to close Tavasci but split 3-2 on whether Oak Creek should remain open as a kindergarten through eighth-grade school. Board members Mary Valenzuela, Janice Rollins and Eric Wyles voted to keep Oak Creek open. Chairman Randall Garrison and board member Jason Finger voted against.

The votes allow the district to save $700,000 next year. Another $200,000 will be saved by restructuring. COCSD will have enough funds to balance its 2011-12 budget should Gov. Jan Brewer’s budget be approved by the Legislature, Business Manager David Snyder said.

Should the Legislature make additional cuts, amounts saved by the district in previous years will be used to make up the difference, Snyder said.

Garrison said the decision to close Tavasci was “easy” given the district’s financial situation, but wanted the board to delay a vote on Oak Creek until the Legislature finalizes its budget.

“We just can’t afford five campuses, plain and simple,” Garrison told the board. “I’m not sure we’re going to be able to afford four campuses when it’s all said and done.”

Students now attending Tavasci will go to Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School, which will be filled to capacity with close to 800 students.

In answer to Rollins’ concerns about overcrowding at DDB, COCSD Superintendent Barbara U’Ren said the school will have the same population in 2011-12 as the day it opened in 1987, several years before Tavasci was constructed.

Oak Creek will remain open as a kindergarten through eighth-grade school. Most extracurricular programs there will be eliminated.

The board debated whether Oak Creek should be converted to a kindergarten through sixth-grade school. In that case, seventh- and eighth-grade students would be transferred to Cottonwood Middle School, with extracurricular programs still offered.

The proposal to keep Oak Creek a kindergarten through eighth-grade school prompted “no” votes from Garrison and Finger, who argued it would be unfair to deny Oak Creek students the same quality of education as CMS students will receive.

Wyles said he too was concerned about the difference in educational experiences at the schools, but voted to keep Oak Creek open. Parents who want their children to participate in extracurricular activities can send them to CMS, he said.

The victim indicated he had gone for a brief bicycle ride and when he returned home, he found the front door to his home pried open. He called YCSO just before 10 a.m.

Once inside, the victim discovered his master bedroom had been ransacked and jewelry was missing along with a .45-caliber handgun.

The victim noticed motorcycle tire tracks in his yard and recalled seeing a motocross style motorcycle accelerate out of the cul-de-sac next to his house while on his bicycle ride.

At the time, he did not associate the motorcycle with any criminal activity. A witness in the area was located and described the motorcycle as black and gray, possibly a two-stroke model, with an engine size of about 250cc. The rider was a white male, approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with short hair. No clothing description was provided.

There have been at least 2 additional residential burglaries in the Cottonwood area. It is unknown at this time if the motorcycle rider described above is involved.

These burglaries occurred in the 2200 block of Franquero Lane, reported March 27, and the 3300 block of Vaquero Lane, reported March 28. The method of entry for both locations was by forcing the front door open. Items stolen include a computer, watches, jewelry and a black iPod touch. It is most likely these incidents occurred during daytime hours.

YCSO also wants to notify the public about three vehicle burglaries in the same general area which were all reported March 27. These thefts likely occurred during the prior evening/early morning hours. All vehicles had been left unlocked. Incident locations include 4600 block of Bay Circle, 2600 of Village Drive, and the 2600 block of Mountain View Drive.

Please remain extra alert to the possible suspect and motorcycle as described. Suspects will likely knock on a door to check and see if the home is occupied and if no answer, they will force the door open. Once inside, suspects will ransack and take items that can be carried away quickly.

Share this information with your neighbors who are home during day and ask them to call YCSO if they see suspicious activity related to the crime series.

]]>cgraham@larsonnewspapers.com (Christopher Fox Graham)Cottonwood NewsWed, 30 Mar 2011 20:28:04 +0000New station depends on budgethttp://www.journalaz.com/News/new-station-depends-on-budget.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/new-station-depends-on-budget.htmlThe Camp Verde Fire District has had plans for a new fire station in the works for years. The idea isn’t to build a complete replacement for the district’s current facilities, but to add a station, which would help the district better respond to fires and emergencies in different areas of Camp Verde’s sprawling geography. The last new station was built by the district more than three decades ago.

The district has already purchased land off of Arena Del Loma and installed a well. The plans for the new structure are already drawn up, Camp Verde Fire Chief Clayton Young said.

The district has also applied for a $2.3 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for construction.

However, with lower property values potentially leading to lower tax revenue for the district and continued uncertainty in the federal budget, the future of the new station is up in the air at the moment.

“We still haven’t heard back from USDA about the loan,” Young said. “With the federal government operating on a day-to-day budget, there’s no telling what’s going to happen.”

The district still has to deal with its other budget obligations, Young said, and construction of a new station would also require hiring firefighters to staff it.

Young said the CVFD Governing Board would likely discuss the future of the fire station further in a series of budget workshops and meetings scheduled for April when the numbers from the federal government might be more clear.

The district has been operating under the direction of a five-member board since the new system was approved by voters in November. The district formerly operated under a two-person president/secretary system. The new organizational structure brings the district more in line with other fire districts throughout Arizona.

“Overall, it’s been a very smooth transition,” Young said.

One of the new board members, Mike Wingate, resigned in February citing a potential conflict of interest due to his work as a consultant that could potentially do business with the district in the future.

The board will appoint a replacement for Wingate next month.

The district has also worked out a deal with the Town of Camp Verde to help facilitate construction of a new station on Arena Del Loma, whenever that may happen.

The Town Council last year agreed to waive more than $20,000 worth of building permits and $10,000 worth of impact fees for the new station.

Since the town is a government entity, it doesn’t pay taxes to the fire district, said Jack Blum, now an elected fire district board member who was district secretary and treasurer at the time. That means the district has a right to charge the town for services provided, and it has on occasion. But overall, Blum said the district has not charged the town anywhere close to what it could have. Furthermore, Blum said if the town were required to pay taxes like any other member of the district, it would owe nearly $10,000 a year on its 303 properties. Charging the town would be counterproductive to the taxpayers, who already pay taxes to the fire district.

]]>cveditor@larsonnewspapers.com (Mark Lineberger)Camp Verde NewsWed, 30 Mar 2011 07:00:01 +0000Threat triggers call to policehttp://www.journalaz.com/News/threat-triggers-call-to-police.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/threat-triggers-call-to-police.htmlThe Camp Verde Marshal’s Office had to show up at Camp Verde Elementary School earlier this month when a young boy threatened to shoot a fellow student.

The 11-year-old didn’t have a gun, but the threat of violence is something the Camp Verde Unified School District has to take seriously.

“It’s pretty standard operating procedure when there’s a threat to other students, another person’s life or if we believe a student could pose a threat to another student after school,” Superintendent Dan Brown said.

Brown said even a fight would warrant a 9-1-1 call if someone was really taking a pounding.

It’s the threat that’s the trigger to bring in law enforcement, Brown said.

In cases like the recent threat at the elementary school, the ultimate decision to get law enforcement involved is up to the principal, said Debbie Pottorff, the elementary school principal.

Camp Verde Unified School District has a school resource officer from the marshal’s office usually on duty at the middle school.

In this most recent case, a school employee contacted Pottorff after seeing the student’s behavior. Pottorff said she contacted the resource office who then called for more assistance from the marshal’s office.

“I have to weigh whether I should [contact law enforcement] or not,” Pottorff said. “Fortunately, I don’t have to make contact that often. I have to distinguish what a student’s intent actually was.”

Brown said things have actually been improving at the school district in recent years in terms of law enforcement interventions.

Brown said when he first joined the district as principal of the middle school, there were more than 50 students arrested. Half of those were taken to the juvenile detention center in Prescott, often for a stay of at least 24 hours.

The next year, Brown said there were fewer than 20.

“It hasn’t been as common as it once was,” Brown said, something he said could be attributed in part to a surprising side effect of the economic recession.

“It seems like families are coming together more,” Brown said. Brown also said the school district’s new focus on a new curriculum and guidelines are also paying off.

“We’re seeing fewer disciplinary referrals all around,” Brown said.

For the child who ends up getting arrested, aside from dealing with the consequences of the legal system, their return to the school system varies.

Brown said for anything beyond a nine-day suspension, the student must go before a hearing officer. There, the administration and parents get to weigh in on the situation, including a recommendation from the administration for an appropriate punishment.

That punishment could include anything from a 45- to 90-day suspension, or expulsion for the rest of the school year.

“A lot of it depends on the age of the student and the severity of the [infraction],” Brown said.

Pottorff said the school would rather not have to have something happen that requires the police in the first place.

“But the times being the way they are, we have to take things more seriously,” Pottorff said.

]]>cveditor@larsonnewspapers.com (Mark Lineberger)Camp Verde NewsWed, 30 Mar 2011 07:00:00 +0000Survivors of sweat lodge take standhttp://www.journalaz.com/News/survivors-of-sweat-lodge-take-stand.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/survivors-of-sweat-lodge-take-stand.htmlTestimony continued last week in the manslaughter trial of self-help author and motivational speaker James Arthur Ray in Yavapai County Superior Court in Camp Verde.

Friday, March 25, was day 22 in the trial; Ray stands accused of being responsible for the deaths of three people following an October 2009 event at the Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona.

Lizbeth Neuman, 49, of Michigan, Kirby Brown, 38, of New York and James Shore, 40, of Wisconsin, died during the $10,000-a-head “Spiritual Warrior” weekend event after exposure to conditions inside what has been referred to as a “sweat lodge,” a large tentlike structure that was heated to extreme temperatures. Brown and Shore were pronounced dead the night of the event. Neuman died a few days later after she was taken off life support.

Ray’s defense team has been arguing the deaths were a tragic accident, but Ray should not be held criminally responsible.

The state continued last week to call witnesses to the stand who participated in the sweat lodge ceremony. The prosecution tried to get into the mind-set of the participants and paint a picture that people stayed in the sweat lodge against their better judgment because of the influence Ray exerted. The defense continued to argue everyone who did anything during the entire week of the retreat did so of their own free will.

Melinda Martin, a former employee of James Ray International who performed CPR on Brown following the sweat lodge ceremony, was on the stand Thursday.

The incident caused Martin to leave her job.

“I didn’t want to go back there; it was too upsetting,” Martin said. “I wanted to devise a new plan for my life. I was at a crossroads.”

Martin said she was a little angry she never heard from Ray after she left Sedona.

“I thought I had gone way beyond the scope of duty of any job,” Martin said. “I was upset he didn’t call and just threw me aside.”

Martin was followed by Washington resident and former Army medevac pilot Scott Barratt, who helped the defense by assuring the jury everything he did that week, he did of his own accord.

Barratt said while there was a sense of peer pressure to “play full on” during the week’s events, he knew there was some risk involved in what the group was doing. In fact, Barratt pointed out not everyone decided to participate in all of the week’s activities.

Barratt said while he didn’t read his pre-event release form very carefully, it did spell out what would be involved during the week.

“Mr. Ray gave a very good description of what was going to happen,” Barratt said. “There’s no doubt about this, the whole event was my free choice.”

Inside the sweat lodge, Barratt helped pull another woman, later identified as Linda Andresano, to safety.

After the sweat lodge, Barratt said he went outside the tent and started going in and out of consciousness.

“It was like the worst hangover I ever had in college,” Barratt said.

Andresano, a nurse, said she wasn’t in her right mind during the later stages of the sweat lodge ceremony.

Andresano said she had participated in a dozen or so sweat lodge events prior to this one, but never had she been in one with so many people or heated to such a degree.

Right before Andresano lost consciousness, she told the court she thought about death.

“I was holding on to the frame of the lodge, and I remember saying to myself, ‘It’s a good day to die,” Andresano said. “And that’s the last thing I remember.”

Andresano said had she been more clearheaded, she would have told herself to get out of the tent.

The prosecution has focused on how death was a major theme of the weeklong retreat, and while that stuck with Andresano, she said she felt the point of the retreat was to look at how you embrace life in the here and now, not the nature of death.

Testimony is expected to continue this week in Judge Warren Darrow’s courtroom.

]]>cveditor@larsonnewspapers.com (Mark Lineberger)Camp Verde NewsWed, 30 Mar 2011 07:00:00 +0000Census figures for Verde Valley releasedhttp://www.journalaz.com/News/census-figures-for-verde-valley-released.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/census-figures-for-verde-valley-released.htmlRecently released numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that while Yavapai County and the Verde Valley grew in population, in some places like Camp Verde the growth was less than some people were expecting.

Late last year, the 2010 census, mandated by the U.S. Constitution to be conducted every 10 years, revealed that America’s population grew by nearly 10 percent from 2000 to 308,745,538.

Arizona accounts for 6,392,017 of that figure, a nearly 25 percent jump from population figures released in 2000. It was enough to give the state an extra seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which divides up the set number of 435 representatives based on population. When one state gains a seat, another state loses one.

Population in Yavapai County also exploded nearly 26 percent from 167,517 in 2000 to 211,033 people counted in 2010. That growth also has representation repercussions because state law requires counties with more that 175,000 residents to be governed by a five-member board of supervisors. The county currently has a three-member board and has been looking at options for county redistricting.

On every level of government, including counties, cities and towns, population plays a role in how much funding from federal and other sources a local government may be eligible for.

In the Verde Valley, every municipality in the region gained population except for Sedona.

The city in the red rocks lost 161 over the last three years with a 2010 population of 10,031.

In Camp Verde, officials had been expecting much more growth that what the numbers actually revealed following a decade that brought a good bit of housing construction at its midpoint.

While there are a few more houses in 2010 than there were in 2000, the population grew from 9,451 to 10,873 over the same period.

The number represents a 15 percent growth rate, one very close to what the census bureau was projecting. The bureau’s 2009 estimate of Camp Verde’s population was 10,871.

“I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get more people,” Camp Verde Mayor Bob Burnside said. While people have had many different opinions how to approach growth, Burnside said he’s looking for ways to bring more dollars into the community, and higher a census number might have helped. “I think something is going to turn around eventually,” Burnside said.

In Cottonwood, population grew by nearly 22 percent, pushing Cottonwood ahead of Camp Verde as the most populous town in the Verde Valley.

Cottonwood’s 2010 population stands at 11,265, up from 9,179 a decade earlier, a gain of 2,086 people.

Clarkdale also enjoyed near 20 percent growth, with recorded population numbers jumping from 3,422 to 4,097 over the past 10 years.

That’s fewer people than the census bureau predicted, as it estimated Clarkdale was home to 4,252 people in 2009.

Jerome, once one of Arizona’s largest cities, has no doubt had the most experience with population swing. Still, the town that once dwindled to only 50 or so people decades ago continues to attract more residents.

The year 2000 had been another decline for the mountainside town, dropping to 329 people from 403 in 1990. But the past 10 years have brought even more people back into the community, with 115 new residents swelling the population to 444.

The Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra will continue to analyze the wealth of data released about the Verde Valley in the coming weeks.

]]>cveditor@larsonnewspapers.com (Mark Lineberger)Yavapai County NewsFri, 25 Mar 2011 07:00:00 +0000Verde River drowning victim identifiedhttp://www.journalaz.com/News/verde-river-drowning-victim-identified.html
http://www.journalaz.com/News/verde-river-drowning-victim-identified.htmlYavapai County Sheriff's Office detectives have identified the body of man found floating the Verde River on Saturday, March 19.

The victim is identified as 40-year-old Dennis Cleveland Sine Jr. Family members have been notified. Sine was known to have prior addresses in the Flagstaff and Clarkdale communities.

On the morning of Wednesday, March 23, YCSO realeased images of three tattoos on Sine’s body. The tattoo on Sine's back is a representation of the Hualapai Tribal Nation Seal.

Identiying that mark helped investigators narrow the search, Hualapai Nation Police Department Chief of Police Francis E. Bradley Sr. said. The victim might still be unknown, Bradley said, had that tattoo not been identified. The tattoo on the left leg is the victim’s last name.

On March 19, YCSO detectives near the 1300 block of Kelli Lane in Bridgeport to where a Sine's body had been found. The Yavapai County medical examiner conducted an autopsy Sunday, March 20 and determined drowning as the cause of death.